Trackers guide on how to cut your bolt

now for starters i accept NO responsibility if you cut something too short, or take your bolt out of tolerances

this guide does not have to be followed verbatim, but it should help you through the process

for starters here are the tools i used

are they the correct ones? not a chance, but i was making do with what i had available

here are some tool reccomendations

some kind of a small saw, i would say a fretsaw would be the ideal choice (should have a blade thats alot more like a wire than an actual saw blade) another saw suggestion would be a PVC pipe saw (i always consider these like miniature hacksaws) there is always the old reliable, yet quite ungaingly hacksaw, and in a pinch you can use the cross cut style saw like the leatherman, if you use one of these, give yourself plenty of extra space
next suggested tool, files, bastard files, round files, really any kind of decently fine toothed file, the round file would be very helpful to have around
next tool, a scribe, something with soft edges but a pointy tip, this is so you can mark off your lines that you want to give your bolt (if you contouring it to your guns body)
and last reccomended tool is sand paper, i found 320 grit to be just about perfect for shaping, it cuts easily, and doesnt clog up, you should use 1000 grit at least to finish your work, the higher the better though.
and a tap is suggested, but not nesscary, i dont know the threading for the 04 retainer bolt, but i would guess its a 10-32
and something to secure the workpeice while your sawing

before you begin, be sure to de-grease the bolt as much as possible with rubbing alcahol (usually always around any home)

as stated in the tools section, use the scribe to mark your cuts, if you need to bridge a gap, like the ones running along the top and the bottom, use a peice of tape,
here is the scribe and the marks on the bolt

a very important step if you doing this without actually reading the whole guide already, is to remove the spring and ball bearing and screw, then screw the screw all the way in BEFORE CUTTING, this will thread the inner chamber
i used an old cocker pump arm and a swiss army allen wrench to thread it all of the way in as such

now use your saw and break out some rough cuts to remove all the excess you dont want anything to do with, fer instance, this is the way i cut mine

and here is an alternate method, using a cutoff wheel on a dremmel and the tape placed OVER you lines to keep things on track

so now you have your very rough shape, use the files to flesh out your contours to the lines you already marked out with the scribe i also used the knives to shave off larger chunks to help remove some to the excess material faster (please be careful when using a knife, and EXTRA careful with using an X-acto knife), use as many peices of tape as you like along the edges, that helps keep you focused, the way the whole thing is angled it can throw you off if your not paying attention

here is the bolt re-tape-ed to follow the lines that you marked out earlier with the scribe

here is the greatest dremmel attachment ive found for this task, it cuts smoothly and quickly any contours youd like to add, it really its the perfect tool for this job

once you get your contours cut with the file or dremmel, (this step is going to take you the longest, the more time you take here, the better your finished product will look)
here is finished and ready for sanding

you then take the 320 grit and go to town, be sure you use varying finger pressure to keep the lines soft, unless your really going for the sharp edges, your goal here is to remove all the file marks from the surface, you want you be left with a smooth but dull looking surface with no file marks at all

then youll move up to finer grades of sandpaper, alternanting the directions, i.e. rub it one way (up and down), and then the other way (left and right) untill the up and down marks are gone and replaced by the left and right marks. once you have reached you desired level of finish, your done hard stuff

now for the final parts, you take your spring and cut it down to some length, you kinda have to eyeball this, but the closer to the pin you cut your bolt, the smaller youll want to make this peice (mine was only about 3 coils), you need some kind of a spring here, because pulling your bolt pin would be a pain in the *** without it.

now if you cut as close as i did, youll have cut off the threading for the retainer bolt, the area that the spring usually occupies has no threads, there are three ways around this, either remove the spring an ball bearing and screw the screw all the way in BEFORE CUTTING, this would be the easiest way to thread the chamber without tools, next choice is the obvious one, use the tap and thread the hole, and lastly you can do it the way i did, which i definitly dont reccomend (this was done after it was cut), VERY carefully screw the bolt in and keep a good pressure on it, keep it straight, and it will eventually cut its own threads, but this a really easy way to get things crooked if you have a big angle in your bolt.

and now your finished, be sure to clean everything up before you put the bolt back into your gun. i suggest a Q-tip with some isopropyl (rubbing alcahol) on it

so i hope that helps give you guys some ideas, mind you this will work for alot of guns, not just vikings

but the absolute easiest way to get this done for your viking, and make sure its exact, is send it to a good paintball machinist, like DC, then your not risking it getting screwed up